Possession
by onyx-dreams
Summary: Vala/Daniel. How far across the Galaxy will one Archeologist go to get back one Space Pirate?
1. Chapter 1

Possession

* * *

By Onyx-dreams

* * *

I do not own Stargate SG-1, nor its characters but I'd be more than happy to make off with Ben Browder or Michael Shanks (especially Michael Shanks).

I fell in love with StarGate SG-1 too much to not attempt to write a story about it, not to mention falling in absolute love with Vala MalDoran and the Daniel Jackson interactions. There's just something so balancing between the two opposites that are they. So I'm going to try my hand at a fiction between the two of them. Probably won't end well but that won't stop me from trying. It's going to be a bit OOC, because I want to attempt to show just how far a smitten Jackson will go to save the insufferable woman he refuses to admit he loves.

* * *

Daniel Jackson paced around his office in, not in a panic really, but out of a feeling of total loss of control of the situation. It didn't help that there was the emptiness in his office that hadn't been present for the past few years. A lack of sound, the lack of a shining, happy presence that was always determined to live life to its fullest. The vacancy was deafening to Daniel. He couldn't believe it…he couldn't comprehend it…and to make himself feel worse, he had been horrible to her before she disappeared, and he had the gall to be pissed up until they had found the blood on the ground, thinking she had wandered off for no reason…

The guilt was almost eating him alive, and now the screaming silence was joining in… He turned as he passed by his desk and slammed his fist down with all his strength, sending a couple papers floating into the air, and causing a poorly stacked pile of books to go toppling to the floor. It was all he could do to hold the tears back.

A cough alerted him to a presence of someone at the door to his office. Daniel took a shaky breath to compose himself before turning to find a frowning Cam.

"Man, I know it must be worst of all for you. Out of all the people on this base, she spent almost every minute of her time with you, but beating up furniture sure ain't gonna bring her back to us."

"I know, I know. I just can't believe it. We let her take her watch so the rest of us could sleep, and she ends up getting taken away, by who knows who to who knows where. The Lucian Alliance, if they got her hands on her…"

Cam shifted uncomfortably as Daniel took another shaky breath to compose himself. "Maybe if I hadn't said some of the things I said to her before, she wouldn't have wandered so far during her shift…maybe we would have heard something to go and save her."

"Can't change the past my man. What's done is done and is water under the bridge my gramma used to say. However, you know General Landry is making sure every team that is getting sent off world is being told to keep an ear and an eye out for our Princess."

Daniel frowned in annoyance. "That's not good enough. We should be searching for her. We should be out there scouring every shit hole we know is scummy enough to have taken her from us."

"Our hands are bound by IOA man. She was an alien. Without any diplomatic ties that would be of any use to us in our explorations. They don't care and would be pissed if we spared the man power to go looking for her."

Daniel grabbed a book and slung it across the room, though nowhere near Cam, though the team leader still flinched.

"And that is what is damn wrong!" Daniel shouted. "She was one of us! She's put her life in danger so many times without even being asked to! All for the safety of our world! We've even given her papers and American citizenship!"

Cam frowned. "It's all wrong man, but the reality is that the Galaxy is big, far too big for us to go running our asses off trying to play heroes, when all it really is, is a bad search for needle in star system. We don't know who took her or to where and we have no leads. The most we can do is hope that some of our moles in the Lucian Alliance will get a wiff of our wily, bad behaved Princess. She's bound to draw attention wherever she goes and you know that Daniel. Let's go eat. Teal'c and Sam are worried about you and are waiting in the mess."

Cam stepped out of the way to let Daniel though, not wanting to get bulldozed by the angry archeologist. The real question though was if Daniel was more angry at himself or at the bastards who took the glue of their team away.

* * *

A week earlier:

A sigh.

He pointedly ignored the noise that was becoming more frequent with every minute that passed by while he took in Ancient writing.

Another sigh.

His eyebrow twitched a little bit, and he noticed that Teal'c, who wasn't far off, began to slowly drift out of the immediate area, knowing exactly what was about to happen. This rubbed Jackson's patience a little shorter. Some friend.

A louder, longer sigh.

"Oh my god woman! What is wrong with you?"

"I'm bored Daniel! Sitting on this godforsaken planet with nothing to do but sweat while you bury your nose in the dust to read writing that has been sitting around for millions of years and will continue to sit there for millions more! It's not like the silly place is going to up and disappear!"

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to suppress the headache that was steadily getting worse.

"Go find something to do then! Sitting here sighing isn't helping me get my work done any faster. All you're doing is distracting me."

"If I really wanted to distract you I can think of many more fun ways to do it my Daniel then sitting here sweating and sighing. I'm trying to behave but that isn't stopping me from getting bored." Vala frowned and flipped a stray lock of her wild hair out of her face.

"Go take a walk then! Or pester Cam until he gives you something productive to do." Daniel waved his hand in the direction of the StarGate while continuing to concentrate on what appeared to be a history of the planet right up to where the inhabitants mysteriously disappeared.

"You know he's just going to send me right back here right?"

Daniel raged a little in his head but it finally got control of his vocal box and caused him to say something that he immediately regretted. "Because he knows you're damn useless, and annoying. Just like always Vala. You get in the way and you attract trouble! Go away for right now."

He winced a little in his head when he saw the sad look creep across her face. But his pride and desire to finish his translations made him bite back an apology. She'd be back to pester him eventually anyways. She always did. He didn't even look as she stalked off with tears welling in her eyes.

* * *

Later that night:

Daniel reached a hand behind his neck as he massaged the complaining muscles there. Staring at the writing higher on the wall took its toll after a while. He sighed and gathered up his notes before he headed off to their little camp near the Stargate. He glanced around to look for Vala, having expected her to return to pester him. To his pleasant surprise she wasn't in the ruins. He shrugged, thinking she must have actually found something to amuse herself back at the campsite.

He trudged into the collection of tents that was their base of operations for their four days here and smiled when he saw Cam attempting to cook a fish over a fire. The man had an absolute hatred for field rations and would take any opportunity to catch the local fauna in order to avoid eating the calorie laden, tasteless food.

"Looks like the intrepid hunter was successful. Fish didn't chase you out of their pond for once?"

Cam turned to scowl at Daniel. "I told you if you EVER mentioned that event out loud I would whoop your ass a new one. Not my fault that no one warned me the fish were as big as a damned horse and were territorial. Lucky you Teal'c and the princess went on a little walk and that Sam went out to grab some more firewood for the night."

"Vala went on a walk?"

Cam looked up from his fish to shrug at Jackson. "She came stomping back about 3 hours ago almost in tears, which I reckon we can thank you for that. Lucky you, Teal'c is all about damage control. Without that man, I'm pretty sure the princess wouldn't stick around you anymore. Speak of the devil, here they come." Cam was looking behind Daniel, and the archeologist turned around to greet his two teammates. The sullen look Vala gave him before angrily pushing past him quickly dried up any hello he was about to give out however. Teal'c's disapproving raised eyebrow didn't help.

A little irritation rose when he suddenly heard Vala chatting happily out of nowhere with Cam. "Oooo! You caught that? When did you go fishing? Me and Muscles were walking next to the lake for a while and we didn't see you. You know, I like a man who can hunt."

Even though Daniel was miffed that he didn't get a hello from Vala, he still had to stifle the laugh at her hunter comment. It wasn't a very good stifle as he turned to see Cam glaring daggers at him. Daniel raised his hands in mock surrender and sat down in the little fire circle they had set up. "You have to admit it was funny."

"Shut up Daniel."

Teal'c wandered off to his tent to do who knows what, and Vala continued to make small talk with Cam while pointedly ignoring Daniel. Thankfully, before Daniel could get too annoyed, Sam came huffing out of the woods with her arms stacked full of heavy branches. Daniel stood and walked over to help the scientist with her burden.

"Thanks Daniel. The trees around here seem to not drop their branches much. Had to scour quite a bit just for this little pile. Should last us all night as long as we keep the fire small." Sam stopped and sniffed the air a bit then saw that Cam was cooking fresh fish over the fire. "Oh thank god. If I have to eat another Jambalaya MRE again I'll puke." She scurried over and deposited her half of the branches onto the small pile already there while Daniel followed behind her.

Cam greeted Sam with a huge smile on his face and scooted over on his little log to let her sit next to him while she looked hungrily at the meal he was cooking. This effectively cut Vala out of the conversation but for once she didn't seem to upset about it. She listened to Cam and Sam joke and talk with a little smile of contentment on her face.

They all finally dished out the fish evenly amongst the group, Teal'c having come to rejoin the group. The sun was finally dipping below the horizon and the stars were winking into existence one by one. Cam glanced around at his team with a happy look on his face. As much as he hated boring missions, it was nice to have this group of people with him.

"So, who wants first watch tonight?"

Vala raised her hand. "I'll do it. I'm not very tired right now anyways. Goodness knows that I need a good walk alone though before going to bed."

Cam nodded. "Well, wake me up in two hours. I got next shift."

Eventually the rest of the night was portioned out between Sam, Teal'c, and Jackson before they all wandered off to their respective tents.

The last Daniel saw of Vala that night was of the campfire reflecting off the angular planes of her face and the glittering of tears in her eyes.

* * *

The next morning:

Daniel awoke to the loud swearing of Cam.

"The damn woman never woke me up! Where the hell is she?"

Something in Daniel's stomach dropped like a rock. For all of Vala's flaws, she never missed her beauty sleep. Though on many missions, unnoticed by other team members, Daniel's tent was always near Vala's and he knew she had night terrors. She never screamed, but her mumbling often became coherent enough to reveal that some things from her past would never stop tormenting her.

Daniel dressed quickly and got out of his tent. He walked over to where Cam was looking bewildered.

"The princess didn't happen to sneak into your tent again did she?" Though Daniel knew that at other times this would be a jab at Vala's infatuation with him, the worry laced in Cam's voice made it infinitely clear that it was a preferable alternative to a missing Vala.

Daniel shook his head. "No. I haven't seen or heard her since going to sleep last night."

"Shit." He looked around and saw Sam with a worried look on her face and Teal'c looking as impassive as ever. "Well let's go look for her. Hopefully all that happened is she sat down and ended up falling asleep. Teal'c go with Jackson and I'll go with Sam. Radio when you find her."

Teal'c stepped up next to Jackson, taking note of the barely restrained worry on his face. "We shall find ValaMalDoran, DanielJackson. She is too much of a 'spitfire' as the Tau'ri say."

Daniel shook his head just slightly, his paranoia at something bad having happened not being soothed. "It's not like Vala to just disappear. Every other time she has ever bothered to not appear when she should is because someone kidnapped her. Almost every time was caused because of my not paying enough attention to her too."

Teal'c could see the frustration in Jackson, the guilt written plainly on his brow and in his blue eyes. Teal'c could think of nothing further to say that might bolster his teammate's confidence so he simply nodded his head and stepped off in the direction opposite of where he saw Cam and Sam walk off to. Daniel reluctantly followed, pulling out his zat and beginning a scan of the forest around him.

A couple hours later, Daniel's worry and guilt slowly changed to frustration and anger. "You know what? I'm betting she's off hiding somewhere snickering to herself at the idea of me scouring the planet for her! That woman…I swear she'll be the end of me…"

Teal'c wisely remained silent, letting his friend vent his worry in his own way. It had been a fruitless couple of hours, following supposed trails that she may have created while wandering around. Even the ex-Jaffa was beginning to feel his worry increase. ValaMalDoran never voluntarily left the group for that long. Her need to socialize would drive her insane if she stayed away.

Teal'c suddenly stiffened and a distracted, ranting Jackson slammed into him from behind. "What the hell Teal'c. Why did you suddenly stop?"

Daniel noticed the Sho'va's hand slowly rise to point a short distance away. As Daniel's gaze followed the pointing finger, he felt his stomach drop even further than it had earlier that morning, and all his frustration and anger were gone only to be replaced with fear.

Laying not even ten feet away were Vala's weapons and some of her blood.

"Oh god…"

Teal'c gave Daniel a sympathetic look. "It appears that ValaMalDoran was attacked and abducted DanielJackson. The foliage in the immediate area shows a fight ensued, but no footprints lead away. They were beamed or ringed out."

Daniel barely heard a word the Jaffa said as he slowly walked to where he saw a small glittering next to her weapon. His hand gingerly reached down to pick up one of Vala's hair barrettes. He palmed it slowly, the small reminder of the woman he had pissed off enough to go wandering alone in the dark without him near to help her. Almost everything bad that had happened to her since she'd been to the SGC had somehow been related to him neglecting her. And now she was gone. Again. His palm squeezed tightly over the barrette as he stood up. When he found her again, he'd never let her out of his sight. She meant too much to the team and to him to suffer another loss of her presence.

The blood reminded him too much of the time she had burned alive in front of him…

* * *

Two weeks after present day

General Landry, for the first time in a while, was absolutely speechless. He should have seen this coming. All the signs since the damn woman had charmed her way onto SG-1 were there. The fighting, the subtle glances, the trust they displayed in one another when no one else did…hell, after Vala had proclaimed the date-gone-bad-Vala-with-her-memory-wiped-fiasco…all the signs had been there. And truth be told, the thought didn't bother him as much as it should have. She did something to that man that brought life to him.

But that didn't stop him from being stunned when Daniel Jackson marched into his office in a storm of conviction, proclaiming his resignation from SGC and demanding his right to be gated to a world of his choice.

"You can't be serious Dr. Jackson. She's only been gone 3 weeks. Give it a little more time for word of her to surface."

The archeologist's face was nothing but determination to not be swayed. "Sir, all due respect, but just sitting around and hoping that word of her is going to surface isn't enough. She's a member of SGC and to just give up that quick is an insult to everything she's done for us, all the pain she's gone through BECAUSE of us. I don't care about what the hell IOA says. She's a member of our team, and we NEVER leave a member behind. We should be turning over every Lucian Alliance and god knows what other mole we have in an attempt to get her back. Unless you can swear to me that we're going to start actively looking for her, I'm going to quit the SGC and go looking for her myself. I don't know about you sir, but the hallways have been oddly silent the past few weeks, and I know I'm not the only one noticing it."

General Landry scowled. He knew just how quiet the hallways were. The damn woman would even come barge into his office every so often to annoy him. Sometimes there were genuine visits. She was a very skilled security analyst and would often come up with recommendations that she would pass straight to him. He'd never admit it to anyone, and for some reason she never spoke about it, but he'd taught her how to play chess also. The woman was brilliant. He'd never had such a challenge before. So yes, he knew very well just how quiet and empty the SGC had become. That and Mitchell banging on his door every down day demanding a new mission just to keep his team occupied so something like Daniel resigning wouldn't happen.

He should have sent them on the mission he'd given to SG-7 instead. Too late now.

Landry sighed to himself and his shoulders stooped in resignation. "Alright Dr. Jackson."

Jackson opened his mouth in a rebuttal but quickly realized that there was nothing to rebut. "Sir?"

"I said alright. You're right. The SGC has its hands tied by the IOA. As long as you are a member of the SGC, you can't do anything to bring Ms. MalDoran back. As an independent party seeking her out without any ties, you're free to do what you want. Only problem is you won't have a lot of resources at your disposal."

Landry had to chuckle in his head at just how dumbfounded the normally intelligent archeologist looked right now.

"Sir?"

"What do you need to help you get off the ground Jackson? I'm sure I can get a few teams to conveniently 'lose' a few supplies and I think I can arrange for the Tokra to purchase some naqueda for you to use to purchase your own ship. Just note that you owe me for getting this off the ground."

Jackson stood speechless, his mouth literally hanging open in disbelief. Landry gave a visible shrug as if to say 'your loss' before he finally came back to his senses.

"What would I owe you sir? And when can we get the Tokra to make a drop off of the naqueda?"

The glint that entered into Landry's eye scared Daniel a bit, enough to make him take a hesitant step back.

"Dr. Jackson, you owe me and the SGC one Vala MalDoran and you owe her a date and a serious conversation when you get back. I've listened to that woman whine about you enough and I care for her like a daughter now. Some fatherly instinct is starting to kick in. And if you don't do something soon, *I'm* going to kick your ass. I can have arrangements made in about two days. The rest is up to the Tokra to make the drop off then you are on your own until you come back with our Princess."

Daniel gulped. The man was doing the equivalent of cleaning a shotgun on the front porch before his daughter got picked up to go to prom. And he didn't know if he liked the idea of this subtle blessing or if he should just return Vala and run like a bat out of hell back out the gate.

"Yes sir."

"I will notify Mitchell of your resignation. Your little plan to bring her back doesn't leave this room though I'm sure Mitchell will know exactly what you are doing by resigning. You won't have back up Daniel, we aren't required to bring you back if you run into trouble. Though they may go after you anyways because of what you know, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Daniel nodded, his face sobering immediately. "Anything else?"

"Nothing I can think of at the moment Dr. Jackson. You better start packing your things to depart the SGC. You need to make sure that you have as little connection with Earth as possible, so no earth technology, no Earth books, nothing that can trace you back here. It's a danger both to you and to us. Get what you want sent to your apartment and what you want to take with you sorted out."

Daniel nodded his understanding.

"Very well Dr. Jackson. Dismissed."

Landry watched as the archeologist walked out of his office, a slight spring back in his step that hadn't been there for the past few weeks. If there was anyone out there that had the conviction, the determination, and the faith needed to bring Vala back, it was that man that had walked out of his office. Jackson was the reason Vala had come to the SGC in the first place, and it was Jackson that would make sure she would remain. Landry nodded to himself, then sighed as it occurred to him all the paperwork and hoops he would have to jump through to purge Jackson from the SGC vice grip. It was going to be a very long couple of days.

* * *

Next Day:

When Landry had come to him about Daniel, Cam wasn't surprised at all. In fact, what he was surprised at was that it had taken this long for Daniel to come to his senses about it and take action.

He stopped in front of Daniels office where he already heard the archeologist packing. He swung in and leaned on the doorway watching as books and artifacts from years and years of collecting got sorted and packed away. Cam would miss the nerdy, yet definitely masculine man that was a part of SG-1 from the very beginning. But Jackson's fretting over Vala was slowly driving him insane and this was one of the few ways SGC could actively search out the space pirate. Cam sighed to himself, alerting Jackson to his presence.

"Hey Mitchell."

"Jackson."

"What brings you here?"

"Got word from Landry about your sudden decision to depart the SGC and Earth."

Cam had to smile at himself as Jackson searched for the correct way to phrase his reason for leaving when it was painfully obvious to his team leader.

"Look, Daniel, buddy. Gramma didn't raise no fool. I know very well why you're high tailin' it out of here. And I respect that. And as much as you don't want to admit it, everyone on base, when they catch wind of you leaving by stargate, will know exactly what you are doing. You have the full support of everyone here. And we even have Teal'c as a possible way to get into contact with you while you are searching the big blue yonder for our Princess. Short of death, no one on this base will breathe a word of your secret mission to rescue Vala. We all miss her. She was probably the sole source of life on this base."

Cam noticed that Daniel's eyes were getting misty. He felt bad that of all the people to fall for, Daniel had picked Vala. Yet he didn't feel bad at all. The little time that Vala had spent with him when he had gone to his high school reunion wasn't all that bad minus the bounty hunter fiasco. His parents loved her to pieces, and she'd only known them for a few days. In another life, Cam could easily admit to having been the one to fall for her. But her interests had always been directed at the visibly upset archeologist in front of him. The lucky bastard. It just took losing her for the 4th or 5th time for him to finally come to his senses.

"You'll find her Daniel. I know you blame yourself every time Princess up and disappears underneath our noses, but think about who it took to coax her back every time. She came back after the initial Prometheus incident knowing you to be you. You made a big impact on her. When she lost her memory because of the Trust, the only person she even remotely trusted was you. Something instinctual brought her back to you and she had only a glimpse of you, where I had almost a whole day in captivity. When she lost her memory voluntarily to bring Adria in, you composed her enough to sit and watch the video tape you two had concocted. Look Daniel, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, you two are the closest thing I've ever seen to destined."

Cam knew he was pressing buttons he shouldn't, but something in him needed to make sure Daniel had the conviction to bring both Vala AND himself back in one piece. He was team leader, and after playing referee to many Daniel and Vala fights he had also picked up the big brother thought process. His family needed protecting, he needed to make sure they would come back safe. He had big O'Neill shoes to fill and he wouldn't be one to lose Jackson. Again. He was quickly catching up to the old general's score of Daniel deaths and he didn't care to lose that bet and find out Daniel's nine lives were clean run out.

The silent tears that were trailing down Jackson's face immediately caused Cam discomfort. But it was discomfort that quickly disappeared when the archeologist looked up with the fire that Cam was hoping to see. "I won't lose her again Cam. I can't lose her again. Every time she disappears I feel like I lose a piece of myself. If I didn't know any better I'd say those damn bracers of hers still have a little influence even after all this time." Daniel forced a laugh through what Cam assumed was initially a sob.

Cam reached over and gave Jackson a reassuring pat on the back, one that for once held no awkwardness. "I believe you Jackson. We all do. And if you ever get into trouble, you know that we will all risk a court martial and permanent ban from Earth to come and get you and the Princess."

Daniel nodded his head, not trusting himself to say anything out loud.

"Best get back to packing sport. You have a long road ahead of you. You know where to find all of us if you need people to talk to." With that Cam turned and left the office, leaving Daniel to his own devices and thoughts. He felt considerably reassured that the Princess was in good hands.

Daniel sat for a couple seconds, regaining control of the emotions Cameron had set in motion. It wasn't fair that one woman could screw him up this much. Dr. Daniel Jackson, one of the most composed people in the world, capsized by a slip of a woman with a treasure fetish and a control complex. He remembered having never been as frustrated as the first time he encountered her on the Prometheus. He had also never, and he would never admit this out loud to anyone, been that turned on by someone with a violence fetish. He secretly held the memory of that very violent kiss followed by a headbutt close to him.

He took a long look around his office. His eyes had caught the glimmer of the barrette he had found where he had lost Vala. He had been warned against bringing anything that hinted at being Tau'ri. But he would hope that hair ornaments were not a strict Tau'ri custom. Because it was the last reminder he had of her left. He gingerly picked it up, contemplating how he could carry it with him in a discrete manner. Sighing for the moment he placed it in his pocket. He had a day left. A day before he got left on a planet with a Tok'ra operative bearing the last of his supplies and his last civilized contact before he went on his wild goose chase across the milky way galaxy. He didn't know what waited for him out there, if he would come back alive, if his friends would ever find out what would have happened to him if he should fail in his search for Vala. Because he knew one thing. He wouldn't come back without her. It'd be with Vala in tow or not at all.

* * *

A/N: okay…I know this started out horribly. I have to exercise my writers skills before they come back to me, then my laziness takes over and I can't go back to fix my horrid writing. But it's all nice and warmed up now. Next chapter will start off much better I promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Possession

By onyx-dreams

I do not own SG-1 or its characters, though I'm still wishing pretty damn hard for a red-ribbon wrapped Michael Shanks in my stocking. ;) Not to be creepy or anything, but a girl can wish.

* * *

Vala slowly came to, registering that her head felt like an Al'quesh had slammed into it at full ramming speed. The next thing that she registered, mainly because she couldn't use them to rub her pounding temples, was that her hands were restrained behind her back. It was also either pitch black or she had gone blind. Fear crept into her. The last thing she had remembered…

_She stormed angrily off into one direction. There had to be a limit a woman could take at being insulted at every turn. A woman would walk away after having been told she's nothing but a burden for the 50__th__ time by the man they loved with everything they had. Though to his credit…she'd never told him and her Daniel may be a smart man, but there were some things you just needed to bludgeon him upside the head with until he got the point. Emotions were one of those things._

_She had walked for a solid 10 minutes in a single direction before it occurred to her that she should be walking AROUND the camp and not AWAY from it. She paused and took a deep breath and looked up at the two moons and giant gaseous planet with rings sitting above her. How beautiful the stars were, twinkling away with abandon, not a care in the mortal world for the comings and goings of flesh. Though she knew she should turn around, her little clearing beckoned for her to sit down and marvel at the sky for a while and forget about her Daniel problems._

_The last thing she heard was the crack of a branch behind her before stars exploded inside her own head…_

She…she'd been abducted…again…only this time it was off-world. It wasn't the Trust, the search for her wouldn't be confined to just Earth this time, but she found mild comfort that the Ori galaxy was no longer a standing issue. With her small little comfort, she cried to herself. She could feel the stitches in her arm where her transmitter had been removed…she was so tired of struggling for survival. She was done with that. She knew Earth life had made her a little soft. But she was ready to settle down. Earth was home now, the Tau'ri of SGC her family. She had found where she belonged. And she had given it up all in a moment of angry stupidity.

Deep down, she knew Daniel cared. All the times he had been there when no one else had. Where she had been lost in the dark and he had shown like her beacon to lead her back home. Always gentle with her when she was hurt, rough with her when she was being stupid. So many times he had taken shots that had been meant for her, put his reputation on the line to get her the chances she needed to get to where she was today; a respected member of SGC and SG-1, and he had even fought for her tooth and nail against the IOA to have her recognized as an American citizen, social security number and passport and all. And every time he had achieved it for her, he would smile in pride at her. Pride that she could better herself.

And here she was, in the dark, god knows where. Because she just had to press Daniel's buttons. Which resulted in him being annoyed and telling her she was a nuisance. Which she was sometimes looking back. What was it that Cam always said? Hindsight was always 30/30?

She stopped her self-pitying for a moment as she felt the light vibration of engines coming up through the floor. She was still in space. Hurtling to god knows where. Far away from Daniel, who she desperately wanted to be right here with her telling it would be okay. That this would be over and he would walk through the door any minute to whisk her away from her newest nightmare.

Almost in tandem with her wish she heard a door open in front of her along with a glaring bright light that bit into her eyes. She hissed a little to herself and looked up at the looming shadow that was breaking up the intense light. Not really able to make out any distinct features from the shadow, she couldn't stop herself from breathing out a "Daniel…?"

Her response was one that filled her with dread. The dark chuckle was definitely not something that would leave Daniel's body. She curled up into a tight ball as she suddenly realized something with horrifying clarity. She had no clothes on…the light breeze whisking over her sides and arms and legs made that terribly clear.

"Don't worry sweetheart. You'll be learning a few names real soon so you won't have to guess. You're going to fetch a pretty penny being Tau'ri and all."

Vala let out a mental scream. She'd been found by a slave trader…one who sold his attractive female captures for more than just manual labor…she'd thought her days of being taken against her will had come and gone with Que'tesh…and now this…

'_I'm so sorry Daniel…'_

* * *

Daniel couldn't believe it. The Tokra had gone a little overboard on their end of the bargain, but he wasn't about to complain. When he had made his departure through the SGC gate to the appointed rendezvous point with the Tau'ri allies, all he had expected waiting for him was a single Tokra with maybe a couple cases of weapons grade naqueda at his feet. Instead…instead there was an entire Al'quesh WITH weapons grade naqueda aboard. It had been retro-fitted with the best tech the Tokra could get their hands on also.

Daniel turned to gape at the symbiote and host that had sat there waiting for him. "You know…this is a little more than I was banking on…"

"Dr. Jackson, we have not been the most forthcoming of allies to the Tau'ri. And most of all, we feel indebted to you in particular. We know you seek a team member of SG-1 who only a handful of us have ever gotten to meet or know, but who we have helped before in freeing her from her submission to the Go'auld Que'tesh. We do not wish her harm. And we know that what you will be dealing with will be very dangerous. For all the Tau'ri's bravery throughout the galaxy, they know very little about the scum out here. We don't know where you will be going Dr. Jackson, but you are one of the unsung heroes of this galaxy. We do not wish to hear of your demise. So we are sending you out with the best we can provide."

Daniel was again staring up at the Al'quesh. At this rate, he may be able to set up a very real identity in space. His hopes soared at the thought of how well this could play into his hands. He glanced back at the Tokra to find him scowling.

Daniel looked back not really knowing how to react. "Yes?"

"Your glasses Daniel Jackson. We are not all that familiar with Tau'ri medical procedures but do you have no way of fixing your eyesight?"

Daniel looked a little taken aback. "Well…we do…it's just that it costs a lot of money and with all the world saving I've had to do the past few years, I didn't really have the recuperation time to sit and wait for my eyes to heal from said surgery. It takes almost 6 months for the eyes to fully heal."

The Tokra continued to scowl. "Daniel Jackson, if you can wait a day, I can have your eyes fixed and healed in that time. It would do to deviate as far from your normal look as possible. Should you encounter the Lucian Alliance, they know very well what you look like."

Daniel suddenly felt a little self-conscious. He hadn't really thought about that part. He got the no Tau'ri items in his possession but totally forgot how infamous he was with certain places in the galaxy that would recognize him, Tau'ri items or not.

He gave a curt nod to the Tokra giving his assent to go ahead and fix his eyes. A new ship, a new freedom, a new look…Daniel was reinventing himself…

He had to chuckle as he already had 'created' a name for himself. And how plucky that it was during the whole Vala and Prometheus incident.

"Olo. Hans Olo."

The Tokra turned and gave Daniel a questioning look. Daniel shook his head in silent laughter. "Nothing…a little inside joke that just came to mind. Lead the way."

The Tokra took Daniel into his own Al'quesh and showed him to the small medical bay that had been interfaced. As a matter of fact, to Daniel, the Al'quesh only looked like an al'quesh on the outside. The inside was radically different from any Go'auld ship he had ever seen. His Tokra contact smiled at him. "We took a few liberties with the ship while we were improving the tech. We had to make sure none of it was Tau'ri or Asgard in nature, but what you will find in here is some of the best tech you will find on the open and black market in the Galaxy. Along with the tech, we had an inkling you might take on a collector kind of persona, so we decided to do a little decorating that might suite your tastes."

And what a job they had done…most of the décor was still goa'uld in nature, but there were tapestries and carpets from other worlds, a couple of paintings and some statues.

"All of it is secured to the walls and floor so that should you encounter…turbulence for lack of a better word, everything won't get destroyed immediately. Here is the medical bay. All you need to do is lay down here," the Tokra motioned toward a padded medical bed, "and we can be done in minutes. You won't feel a thing except some mild itching. That itching is what is going to keep you grounded for the remainder of the day as the goa'uld healing tech can only do so much and your body has to finish the rest on its own."

Daniel complied, laying down and pulling his glasses off his face. The Tokra stood above him with what looked rather like goa'uld healing device, but as it was passed over his eyes, it certainly stung a little more than any healing device he had been exposed to before. But the difference was instantaneous.

Daniel blinked a couple times, thinking his eyes were going to refocus themselves to where they had been for his whole life. He sat up and looked around and saw the Tokra grinning at him. "There. Done. I shall be on my way now. The al'quesh has cloaking technology so you're safe here for the moment until you decide to take off. Remember not to scratch at your eyes too much or you'll slow the healing."

Daniel nodded his head, still looking around the medical bay with absolute amazement at not having to have glasses or contacts to focus anymore. He heard the door to the room whisk open and shut, but he continued to look and gawk at his surroundings. He got up and began glimpsing over all the hardware located inside the medical bay. He knew there were a few things Dr. Lam would love to get her hands on, not to mention Sam. He was in a tech heaven short of finding himself on Atlantis.

Most things he recognized enough to know he'd be able to use them easily, but there were others that left him a little stumped. Hopefully the database onboard would have some "for Dummies" instructions on how to use everything.

Good god, the Tok'ra wasn't joking. His eyes were itching like crazy. To stop himself from rubbing his eyes to try and be rid of the itch, he began to wander around what remained of the Al'quesh. He found the galley stocked with food he'd never heard of before but hoped didn't taste like crap, the restroom which was a decent size, but not especially big, a small research room with an interface that made it apparent that this was the primary way to access the ship's database, a small holding area for prisoners, and his bedroom.

His bedroom was the most richly furnished of any area. There was a thick, soft maroon carpet on the floor and his bed was more like a Japanese futon, single mattress directly on the floor. The sheets white and the comforter black. There was a large armoire on one side of the room for his clothes. The walls had tapestries hung from them. He didn't want to think about what all this had ended up costing the Tok'ra. They claimed this was their due to the whole Tau'ri race, so he could only hope he kept it in one piece long enough to get it back to Earth when he had found Vala to hand over the unbelievable amounts of tech on it.

He walked back to the bridge of the al'quesh and located the cloaking mechanism and turned it on. He would like to sift through the database some more but the whole thing with his eyes was going to drive him nuts. Better he laid down and slept through it then started going through possible worlds to immerse himself in to start finding Vala. He wanted more than anything to go in search of her now, but he needed to see what the Tok'ra had handed him and determine what his best course of action would be. And to do that best, he needed non-itchy eyes…

He wandered back to the bedroom and laid down on his back, hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. As he closed his eyes, he wished to the bottom of his soul that he'd walk out of this situation with Vala. And he also wished he could be wherever she was right now, because something was telling him that something was going horribly wrong for her.

* * *

Vala struggled hard against her captor. They had reached wherever they had been going, and although Vala knew what the clothes that had been tossed into her cell had meant, she was more than happy to get out of her naked state. That didn't quite mean she was ready to cooperate though.

She was guessing their stop was a higher end slave market. The clothes she was wearing…even she was hesitant to call them clothing…were of a very fine quality. These were what she would consider wearing to seduce Daniel…if she ever got the chance again. The thought threatened to break her into tears but she managed to subdue them. If she ever wanted to make it back, she'd have to get out of here first.

All that was holding her right now were some of the finest made handcuffs she'd ever seen and a collar with a thin silver-looking chain attached. She knew better than to think that it would snap as easily as it looked. She also knew that if she did manage to break it, it would give a rather nasty zap that would leave her unconscious. She did the slave trade a little after being sprung from Qetesh, and she did regret it. It was a horrible business even if there was money to be made. It reminded her too much of her own submission to the goa'uld.

"Let me go Fatty."

The slave trader turned and glared at her. As far as her knowledge of the slave trade went in the galaxy, this man was NOT in the top 10 successful ones. But his acquisition of her might very well change that. She thought of all the people that would love to get their filthy hands on a Tau'ri female slave. She'd be the only one… Not to mention the SG-1 patches on her uniform made her a top catch. Almost an ultimate prize short of the person being Sam, Cam, or Daniel. No one knew who Vala MalDoran was on SG-1…

She was tugged forward by her collar and she let out a low growl. This man was getting on her nerves. He was all greasy looking, short, and fat to boot. How was she ever overcome by him? Oh yeah, that's right, he'd HIT HER! Only Daniel or Muscles or Cam was allowed to hit her!

"Oh, I'll let you go alright Tau'ri. To the highest bidder. I already have some impressive offers for you. Taking you to the selected auction room where you will sit until I've met with every potential buyer and let them have a good look at you."

A lecherous glitter entered his eyes. Oh yes…the looking, copping feels…female slaves were hardly manual labor slaves. She didn't show any reaction in front of Fatty at his comment, but inside she was crying. She thought her days of being…well raped is the only word for it…were over. She hadn't had sex since she'd left Tomin, which was almost a year. Daniel didn't know, but she'd come to terms with Tomin and they'd both agreed to break the marriage. He needed to focus on his religious work and she needed to focus on her work with SG-1. And Tomin wasn't a fool either. She'd made the mistake of showing little too much concern for Daniel when they had been captured by Adria and tortured. Vala cared for Tomin…a lot. She did love him…but she loved Daniel more, in a way she couldn't explain…maybe because it was, there was a time when Tomin had doubted her, truly doubted her integrity. He'd left her to sit outside for days, starving to death. Daniel…Daniel had never lost his trust in her. Yes she drove him wonko, and he often got exasperated at her antics, but he'd never stopped his support of her, his belief in her. And as she thought that, it struck a chord deep in her. Her Daniel was looking for her. She knew it. He was somewhere out here in space searching for her.

It didn't make her current situation any better, but it made her feel as though she'd get through this in one piece. She just needed to stay alive and sane.

She glanced around the room she had been led into. It appeared to be glass on all sides, but there seemed to be some sort of door blocking view into each pane. Fatty walked over to a ring and snapped her leash into it.

"I'd recommend not getting close to the ring dear Tau'ri. It detects if your collar gets too close and gives a nasty zap. Don't want your price dropping because your sparky personality got quenched by a nice shock."

Vala huffed at him and sat down haughtily on the bench provided in the middle of the room. She stuck her tongue out at him and then turned away, staring at her reflection. She took in her appearance and was reminded again of where she was and what was happening to her. The man had taken a few liberties with her old uniform. Pervert…her military issue pants had been exchanged for daisy dukes of the same color, the top was a smaller version of the original except it was tied in the front. Her boots had a bit more heel than what was practical. At least in Daniel's opinion…oh and here she goes setting off her sniveling again for a man who claimed to hate her existence. But he was such a hot man who's even negative attention she craved like a drug.

Fatty had departed the room leaving her to her own devices. She again turned in her impish nature and stuck her tongue out again. She then turned to eye the ring the leash was attached to. She didn't doubt Fatty's claim that the collar would shock her a new one. No need to bluff when big money was on the line for the real deal.

Vala nearly squealed when one of the shutters behind one of the windows slid open. She stood and turned her body to face him in order to glare, but her eyes immediately widened in fear.

"No…NO!"

* * *

A/N: Another chapter…was hoping for a few more reviews but c'est la vie. Hope this one wasn't too bad either.


	3. Chapter 3

Possession

By Onyx-dreams

I do not own SG-1 or its characters. Nor do I own any other popular pop culture references such as Star Wars.

* * *

He scowled heavily at the screen in front of him. He knew the galaxy was really big, but come on. There had to be an easier way to sniff out huge space ports in this database. So far all he was coming upon were backwater planets with little to no population. Good for smuggling, not so good for either finding work or for sniffing around for hints on where Vala may have gone. Daniel kept keying though multiple planets at random hoping he might stumble across one that looked promising. After having sat here for an hour and a half, having woken up from his 6 hour nap, he was rather antsy to get on his way.

He sighed, his head resting on one arm while his other hand tapped away on the input pad, scrolling though planet to planet, glimpsing at the size of the first major city or town that sat on the description to the left of the image. Finally one ended up catching his eye. He leaned forward.

"Planet: Stalvmeer. Major Spaceport: Kandour; population: 1 million. Possesses space docks to comfortably house Hatak class vessels. Major trade post."

Daniel grinned. Finally. Progress. He checked the coordinates for the planet and relayed them to the navigation computer on the bridge. The nice thing is that he didn't always have to be up there to fly his ship. Might cause him trouble in the end or it might help him, he wasn't sure, but it was nice to not have to walk all the way there in this reasonably large ship.

He felt the gentle hum of the engines as they came to life and the stealthed ship took off from its hiding place on the ground. Now that he was underway…he glimpsed his reflection in the monitor in front of him. He still looked like a Daniel Jackson of the Tau'ri, glasses or not. Time to fully transform into Hans Olo. There wasn't anything he could really do to change his eye color unless he wanted to wear contacts again, and that really didn't suit his fancy. And for a change in hair color, he'd always wondered what he would look like with black hair. Let his hair grow out a little again also, but definitely not to where it was when he first joined SGC. He shuddered remembering that. The bowl cut was a no-no. He wanted it just long enough to where he could slick it back a little.

He walked into the bathroom and snooped around a bit seeing what the Tok'ra might have left him with to play around with. One cupboard revealed a very complex makeup kit. Scars, bruises, stitches, ways to change the outline of his face. Very impressive. He reached over to another cupboard to find it filled with shampoo and soaps. Not what he was interested in at the moment. Moving on, the next one revealed clippers and razors. Getting warmer. The cupboard next to the one of clippers contained what he was looking for. Bottles of different dyes of varying shades.

"Jackpot. Come to Daniel."

He grabbed the bottle labeled black in goa'uld. "This will be an adventure. Never dyed my hair before." Daniel hefted it a couple times, flipping the bottle around to find that the tok'ra were nice enough to leave instructions.

"And down the rabbit hole we go." Daniel spoke aloud as he began to strip to take a shower.

* * *

He stepped out of the shower, toweling himself off before grabbing a robe off of a hook on the wall. Once he had it secured, he walked over to the mirror and smiled at himself.

"Rather dashing if I say so myself. Black isn't half bad."

When he had read the instruction he was pleased to find that the dye had a special property where it continued to dye the root of his hair until he used a negating conditioner that was amongst the bottles of dye. Oh how the women on Earth would go apeshit over this stuff. And oh how the hair care companies would cry themselves to sleep at night at the huge loss in revenue. He smirked a little at that.

Oh the temptation.

Returning his view to the mirror he really was pleased with the results. He knew his normal shade of brown hair was very light, almost sandy. So going to black was a somewhat dramatic change. Lucky his eyebrows were dark or he would have issues. Though because the dye was smart he could dye his weekend scruff to give a more rugged look to himself, which also appealed to him. Oh he loved the tok'ra right now.

He walked back to his room and sifted through all the provided clothing. There was a rather large variety, some looking more like disguises than clothing but then, in his experience the galaxy had a very strange wardrobe. For now he pulled out a pair of leather buckskin looking pants that sat nice and loose and pulled them on, opting to walk around shirtless and barefoot for a while. He continued sifting through all the clothes, matching up several outfits to suit his tastes.

He tried to suppress the sudden feeling that he was acting very much like a woman right now, what with hair dyes and clothing matching. Vala would be poking immense fun at him or she would be joining in…it was hard to tell which at the moment…Vala would be prone to either extreme.

After an hour of poking around all the clothing in his room, he decided he was bored already. He padded back to the console and continued to skim through the planetary database, taking notes on the Tok'ra intelligence about what goa'uld system lords owned what space and what was being controlled by the Lucian Alliance. There were many goa'uld planets controlled by minor system lords he'd never heard of.

He took special note of a single minor system lord who only owned a single planet and had shown no expansion in power for almost a thousand years. It had no Stargate either. Bastet.

A dual personality goddess, one of fierce warrior, the other the protector of home and bringer of good fortune, music, dance and joy. This intrigued him immensely that this Bastet hadn't made a huge power play in such a long time. The Tok'ra labeled her as a non-threat and had little to no intel on her current existence or even if she was alive. Very intriguing. It took a lot for the Tok'ra to ignore any goa'uld. The overall sketch of the planet showed that it was heavily wooded with three major oceans and six continents. There were many signs of crops and irrigation and a limited technology amongst the populace as lights could be seen from the dark side of the planet. Otherwise there was no other information.

It also appeared that other goa'uld ignored Bastet where she secluded herself. Also very intriguing. Nothing he was willing to do about it right now as his goal was to retrieve Vala, but he definitely took note of it for after he got her back.

He continued flipping through the list of planets, taking more notes about all the rulers and alliances in the different areas of space. The SGC would go nuts for this information. There were entire civilizations that the Tok'ra knew about but had never shared. They really had been stingy little bastards.

Bored with surfing planets he began flipping through the archives looking up different technologies aboard his ship. Most were located in his medical ward and it did help him a bit to learn how they worked. The Tok'ra had even indicated that they had left a needle in one of the drawers that would put naqueda into his system so he could operate many goa'uld devices that he would otherwise be helpless to turn on.

He rubbed his eyes and found that he had wasted almost the hours perusing the database. He also knew that he had barely scratched the surface of the information in it. His stomach rumbled and he decided that it was time to see if he could stomach Tok'ra space food.

He wandered around the kitchen opening various cabinets and occasionally opening a package and sampling their contents. Most wasn't actually half bad but there was one item he encountered that he was positive tasted like sardines much to his horror. He sifted through a few drawers and to his delight and shock, there was a cook book hand written in goa'uld. Though he still didn't know what each food was, he now had instructions on how to cook it. Though he made note to make wide berth of the sardine food.

He held the cook book up on its spine and let it fall open to a random page. "And today Hans will be eating…whatever this is…"

He managed to stumble his way through following the instructions and sat down to eat his rather odd looking food. "You'd think that after seven years I'd be used to eating weird shit. But no…now I'm eating weird shit that is space food too…the alien version of MREs. My stomach is going to hate me."

He dug into his food and found that it was actually very good all things considered. Finishing his plate off, he put everything away and washed what needed to be washed.

His eyes were starting to itch a bit again and the food had made him tired on top of the hours he had spent perusing the database. He walked over to his console and checked to see how long it would be before he arrived at Stalvmeer. It would still be a couple days. Yawning, he switched the console off and went to his bed room, turned off the lights and laid down. He could sleep for a whole day and be fine for time. Before he knew it, he was passed out.

* * *

Jackson's next day dragged by and he knew he was already beginning to suffer cabin fever. He had none of his books to read over and none of his StarGate archeologist work to do for the SGC…

He had changed into some new clothes, and he had to adhere a set costume to fit his sense of humor for his first space port visit. Blue slacks, white dress shirt, vest, zat belts slung on his waist, boots up to his knees…and of course he had found a way to integrate Vala's barrette into his wardrobe. It was slung around leather thong around his neck that he had managed to create by dicing up a pair of those leather-like pants. He had welded it shut so it wouldn't spring open if he got slammed into something.

He was now awaiting for the computer to drop out of hyperspace and give docking codes to the space port on the ground. And what a long wait it was turning into. He was very ready to get to business in exchanging information and gaining some street credit so that he could start pulling favors.

He would have to be very careful with himself though. His enthusiasm for other cultures could get him pulled off course or revealed if he wasn't too careful. Sighing, he rechecked the interface for the 5th time. To his relief, he saw that the ship was dropping out of hyperspace now.

He felt a slight shudder as the hyperspace engines dropped out and the subspace engines kicked back in. Walking to the bridge, he sat in the pilot's chair and listened as his computer began banter with the spaceport's, negotiating for a landing clearance. It took a matter of seconds for the exchange to take place and he had been authorized to land on platform WFL-3276, on the outskirts of the main city Kandour. The computer provided a list of, from what Daniel could tell, overpriced hostels and hotels. Thankfully the port he was stationed in allowed him to stay in his own ship due to its distance from the main streets of the city. Those located closer cost more and didn't let you stay in your own ship, forcing payment for the expensive hostels and hotels.

It took about fifteen minutes for his ship to conclude landing and he gained clearance to depart his craft whenever he wished. Daniel now had to decide if it was worth making trips to higher end neighborhoods or if seedy activity was more his forte. If he went upscale and dealt with seedy later it might end up ruining any rapport he may establish. And that would not be acceptable unless seedy was the only option left for getting the information he needed, and even then his upscale reputation might make things easier at that point that time.

"Decisions decisions…"

He walked back to the database console and booted it up to interface with the city's infrastructure, bringing up lists of bars both in what appeared to be upscale sectors and the seediest ones he could find. He wasn't out to go broke immediately so he selected the more middle ground of the upscale bars. If he managed to gain enough wealth and influence with his initial loan of naqueda from the Tok'ra, he go ahead and graduate to the elite society and sniff around.

Pulling out a goa'uld data pad, he recorded locations for each then pocketed the pad and the page turning stone.

"Into the rabbit hole again." He turned and exited his al'quesh, setting up all the external security measures the computer had informed him would be highly recommended to be put in place. After completing that, he started out in his new Vala-hunting life.

* * *

The bar was a wonder in and of itself to Daniel. To know that technology that was only available to the SGC on Earth was common place out here in the galaxy. Holograms, anti-gravity, artificial intelligences, and a myriad of things that even the Tok'ra didn't have in their possession. It was mind boggling to say the least. And he was doing his best to keep his awe contained and act like he was familiar with it all.

He sat at a far booth to see that the table had a built in touch screen menu. Everything was, to his relief, written in goa'uld as standard language. He paged through a rather impressive drink menu, only recognizing a few select alcoholic drinks that were intensely potent in order to affect a goa'uld's sobriety. And he definitely didn't want to get smashed in a single sip. He found if he highlighted different drinks, there were different numbers assigned next to each. The goa'uld drinks had higher numbers, making Daniel believe that those that possessed lower numbers had lower alcohol contents.

He had made a tiny stop in a seedier district to trade a miniscule amount of his naqueda for the credits necessary to make purchases in the city. He was pleased to see he did indeed carry a significant amount of credits for that small bit of naqueda. The dealer was impressed with the quality and had added a bonus when he had found out its purity. To Daniel's amusement, the dealer had asked if he had anymore and if he was willing to do more business later.

After a bit of browsing, Daniel had selected a drink that wasn't too far down the list but he felt wouldn't knock him out after a whole glass. He pressed the "credit card" (for a lack of a better description) down on the sensor to pay for it, then sat back and observed the people chatting away in the environment. He picked up as much of the conversation going on nearby as he could, hoping to pick up something of use to him. The Tok'ra were correct in the aspect of giving him a collector's persona. It afforded him the opportunity to sniff out "collector's" items. Be this information or physical items, it allowed him to search and sift whatever channels he deemed necessary to find whatever he wanted.

A snippet of conversation to his right caught his attention as his drink was delivered by a beautiful woman with some, and very oddly, natural neon purple hair. She also had no iris color, her whole eye being white minus black pupils. She smiled at Daniel, revealing razor sharp teeth before she turned and walked away. The conversation went as such:

"…and I need to find someone to make the purchase. Having it with me is getting dangerous. It is very rare and very wanted. Such a store of rare knowledge could likely have me killed on the spot. You said you knew of a potential buyer?"

"I'm sorry. That's what I came here to notify you about. Apparently he crossed the Lucian Alliance when he tried to hijack a shipment of kasa and got himself killed in the process. I must apologize for his careless behavior but the Lucian Alliance has achieved its goal of addicting the galaxy to its crazy concoction. The price has been so jacked up due to Tau'ri intervention that it appears pirating the stuff from the Alliance is the only way to affordably attain any of it."

"Do you have any other person? Even those with the most fleeting interest? For those rich enough to hide it, it is a great collector's item."

"I know that. However, I know of no one else willing to take the burden of having that thing in their possession. Even I, a great connoisseur of artifacts, want nothing to do with it because of the danger involved."

"Very well. It was good doing business with you."

Daniel made sure to watch the speaker stand to leave. He took in all the details about his looks and height. Unfortunately no names were exchanged which was likely for safety and for good reason. His interest was peaked though, his archeology senses tingling like crazy and his fingers itching for something of possible historic value to look over. He'd been so damned bored with star travel that something to pour over and study would be a god send.

Now was better than never to truly engage into his new persona. He picked up his drink, which he made sure to taste to see if it was palatable- it was-, and went to sit next to the man who had stayed in the booth.

Daniel's jaw dropped as he finally registered who it was. "Out of all the damn people to bump into in this damn galaxy, it had to be you…"

"Why Daniel Jackson! How good it is to see you! And how is my baby girl doing?"

"Well Jacek…you aren't going to like what I have to say, and I take full responsibility for it…"

* * *

Vala groaned as her world slowly came to. Thankfully whatever had been used to knock her out didn't leave an atrocious headache as most are wont to do. The last thing she remembered…

Oh god…it was like her worst nightmare come true…except that would be Ba'al…or Anubis…but this came in a very, very close third. She went to sit up and felt dizzy, but also felt dainty hands pressing her back down into something soft that she was laying down on.

"Please miss, you are not well yet after being delivered to the Harem. You must rest some more. Here, drink this. It will help you sleep until the agent used to knock you out has worn off."

Vala turned to look at the woman who was addressing her, and was first struck by how immensely beautiful she was. Lustrous, silky brown hair that flowed to her buttocks and hazel eyes that were kohl rimmed and doe-like. Vala gave her a weak smile. "What is your name?"

"I am Tahira. Please. Drink."

Vala nodded and took the glass of orange looking juice. She sipped it and grimaced. It tasted horrible. Like that ridiculous vegetable juice she'd caught Sam drinking more than once. Vala finished it anyways, and felt herself enter into a hazy state where she quickly fell asleep.

The next time Vala woke up, she felt considerably more clear headed than the last time she had woke up. Glancing around her surroundings, she found a plush environment filled gorgeous women in varying states of dress and undress. Looking down she found that her Playboy SG-1 uniform had been replaced with something that eerily resembled clothing from her past that she wanted nothing to do with. She was dressed as the queen she tried to remove from her psyche. As Qe'tesh. With minute differences. Her gold wristbands had been changed to manacles, and her necklace had been changed into a collar. Vala bit back tears. She knew Qe'tesh would come back to bite her in the ass. All the system lords she had pissed off while possessed by the symbiote…and now Charon had possession of her host…

Charon was one of those patient son of a bitches that could wait millennia before exacting his revenge out of left field. For some reason Charon favored very ugly hosts, and he was very nasty in demeanor to match his ugly exterior.

Charon…the boatman of the river Styxx…if you could not pay the price, you were abandoned to suffer floating in a sort of damned purgatory. Not a man to piss off…

Charon had always been somewhat of an oddity among the system lords…he appealed to his human servants rather than domineer them. And he had never been huge on vast tracts of space. He consolidated his power so it was very hard to tear from him, and he'd been overly willing to sit on the side lines and watch his fellow system lords rip themselves to shreds. It seemed to provide him with amusement, watching them fall to one another and stab each other in the back. This was also a reason why he had never popped up on the Tau'ri danger radar. He was evil yes, but his power plays were very slow moving.

Vala stood from her pallet of pillows and started to wander her new prison. She quickly caught sight of the woman who had told her to sleep for a while longer. Walking over to her, she sat next to her on a new set of pillows.

"Tahira."

"Vala, you're awake! Feeling more aware now I hope. Our lord Charon is looking forward to meeting you. He seems to know you from long ago. You must be blessed to know him. He is very kind to us here in the Harem. Although it may earn you much jealousy which is why I have been assigned to care for you within the Harem. Lord Charon cares that you have a comfortable life. Are you thirsty Vala?"

Vala sat and thought for a moment then nodded. "I am. Do you have any water?"

"Sadly no. Lord Charon insists we drink only what he provides, which is the orange colored drink. Before you ask, none of us know what is in it. We simply consume it because it is Lord Charon's wish."

Vala's nose crinkled but simply nodded her head as she watched Tahira stand and grab a pitcher, pouring the strange liquid into a clear glass. Handing it to Vala, she sat back down.

"How do you know Lord Charon?"

Vala quickly downed her drink, trying not to taste it. "It's a long story that I have very little desire to recite or remember. Please do not be offended, but my past is not something I discuss lightly. Not even with people I trust implicitly."

"No offense taken Vala. Many here have abandoned their past, forgotten it because of the wondrous lifestyle that Lord Charon has given us. We never go hungry, we are loved, we are pampered, we are allowed to follow whatever education we desire be it mathematics, physics, the arts, martial arts…whatever we wish."

Vala was slightly stunned. This did not sound like Charon at all…

"Has anyone ever tried to escape before?"

"Goodness yes. A few new arrivals have attempted escape before. But Charon has always let them go. They had only to request to leave. Though most of us are purchased as slaves, he will always set us free if we desire."

Vala was suddenly getting a very uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. No goa'uld in their right mind would just let their financial investments run away without exacting some form of punishment. And something about the way Tahiri was looking at her gave her goosebumps. Made her hair stand on end. That dreamy look was that of someone drugged. Did Charon now possess something like Hathor's pheromones?

It was obvious that these women did not know what real fate befell those who had sought freedom. Charon would not want his well manicured harem to go nuts so she could see why he would with hold such fates from those who were more than happy to serve him.

Tahiri got up and poured two more glasses of the drink and handed one to Vala while drinking one herself. "Is not Lord Charon's kasa drink amazing? It is filling with all the nutrients needed so we do not need to consume food."

And now Vala's stomach really did drop. Kasa. Or in Cam's words, space corn. Highly addictive after just one ingestion…and she had had two cups of it already…oh no…

* * *

Daniel had sat with Jacek for over three hours at the bar. Once he had explained what had happened to Vala, he was surprised to find that while Jacek was immediately concerned, he was not angry.

"My daughter is much like I am. Pig-headed, easily angered, frankly stupid when upset, and just not always easy to get along with. Her attitude is mainly a product of me while her looks are all her mother's. I'm not surprised she annoyed you and you snapped at her. I don't blame you. I bet the same thing has happened numerous times before with her stalking off angrily. It just happened to be that someone was lurking just this once. Bad luck."

Jacek reached over and patted Daniel on his upper arm comfortingly. "Look Mr. Jackson, I know my daughter didn't exactly endear me to the SGC, but she is my daughter and I do love her contrary to any of her claims. I appreciate that you trust me enough to tell me what befell my daughter. And I am touched that you would abandon your post on Earth to look for my daughter. And because of that, I want to help you look and I want you to help me look for her. What can I do to help you?"

Daniel looked at Jacek, pinning him with his most serious, no nonsense look. If it worked to tell Vala it was time to stop acting like a moron, he was sure it would work on her father. "I am trying to scour different information channels. I was going to start off high end as I have a good amount of highly refined weapon's grade naqueda in my possession for trade. For right now, I just want to be a collector that happens to also pick up any galactic gossip while making trades. If that ends up not getting me what I need, I will resort to more Vala-like company and gamble and pillage to get what I need. But only as a last resort."

Jacek nodded his head. "I can help get you in contact with as many traders and collectors as I can. I have a bunch of contacts around the galaxy. However, I am going to have to leave now and start dropping your name as an interested buyer of items and information leading to items. What name are you going by anyways? I'm sure you're Tau'ri name would get you more problems than help."

"You're correct. I am going by Hans Olo. Secure subspace communication can reach me at frequency KVR48710. Hail word is Kashyyk. If anyone is serious about making a trade that is how they can reach me. Otherwise I am going to stay as far off the main grid as I can."

Jacek nodded. He then stood up from the table. "Well then Mr. Olo, I must be on my way. I will use my seedier contacts to pull what I can in information and relay it to you."

Daniel stood and shook Jacek's hand. "Let us find her Jacek. I've lost her too many times, this will be the last time I will ever let her out of my sight, angry at me or not. As a side note, would you be adverse to me pursuing your daughter's hand?"

Jacek's face immediately darkened and he drew very close to Daniel and whispered harshly into his ear. "This is my baby girl, my only family. First we need to find her. Then we'll discuss how happy I am about how unhappy you make her on a regular basis." He then drew away and plastered his cheesy Jacek smile on his face. "Well it was nice doing business with you Mr. Olo. I will be in contact with you soon."

Jacek turned and walked quickly out of the bar, leaving a stunned Daniel. That was the first, very real, very true emotion he had ever seen out of Jacek. And it scared him. A lot. Just like when Vala got really and truly upset. Not annoyed, not mildly peeved, but when he truly said something hurtful and over the line where even Cam had slugged him across the face on more than one occasion.

Daniel leaned back in his little booth and took a deep breath. He had one ally out here now at least. Time to start getting others. He slugged down the last of his drink, left a tip, then walked out and headed back to his al'quesh for a long night's sleep. Tomorrow he would farm for other contacts on his own while Jacek ran from planet to planet getting others.

* * *

A/N: Hope it's good. Also hope no one is too mad at me bringing in Jacek. Going to be bringing in at least one other major (that I made up) character in a chapter or two. And she's the one I'm *really* interested in introducing. I still have to decide what to name her though. And yes, the primary name is Bastet but that is the goa'uld, not the host…I'm caught between Buer, Lahash, or Pinem'e. What do you think?


	4. Chapter 4

**Possession**

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Stargate…but I don't…so there…

* * *

Daniel scowled at the goa'uld handheld device in front of him. Jacek had more than kept up with his word on giving Daniel updated contacts and jobs, but he had become greedy as of late, demanding a 45% cut on every job. Though, Daniel had to admit, his refined naqueda store had actually grown by leaps and bounds over the past few months of his space search.

But it appeared that all the higher end contacts Jacek had provided him with were dwindling on potential Vala leads. This caused much frustration on both Daniel's and Jacek's end. Though Jacek's idea of being compensated for this was to become a greedy little bastard exactly like he had been on Earth. Daniel was now no more than another of his contacts. A ship to fly around and do his dirty business for him. Thankfully though, most of the jobs and purchases and sales that Daniel had made in Jacek's name had never once dealt with kasa or the slave trade.

The man had very few scruples, but in his defense he did keep his nose out of the dirtier part of the galaxy's trade profits. It's probably what let him keep better contacts.

Most of Daniel's jobs pertained to stealing and smuggling goa'uld and the odd Ancient artifact. It pained him to watch the Ancient artifacts slip through his fingers, but he definitely studied them to the best of his ability before he had to fork it over to whoever the buyer was. His database on his ship had a huge chunk of its empty memory banks now devoted to his exhaustive notes and a few sketches he had managed to upload.

Not to say that all of Daniel's dealings had gone over smoothly. He'd been in more than his fare share of firefights (even had to hospitalize himself on his own ship about 3 times. He now had naqueda in his blood permanently because it wasn't worth wasting time with the miniscule doses needed to make the goa'uld tech work for a short amount of time.). His ship was no longer pristine on the outside, but he now knew very well how to repair his own ship and what its limits were.

He'd been out in the great large galaxy for over six months, without hide nor hair nor whisper of Vala yet. But he wasn't growing scared. Deep down he knew that Vala was still alive and probably driving whoever had her in captivity absolutely insane. Maybe all he had to wait for was word of some big wig finally going loony toons to find her.

Hans Olo was now a very respected art and artifact dealer in this chunk of the galaxy. Also a smuggler and pirate when the occasion called for it, though no one was ever able to catch him red handed. But most knew him as unusually honorable when it came to doing business. Which actually earned him a lot more business, but also got him shot at a lot by less than pleased peers who wanted his business to take a nose dive.

But what Daniel was now scowling at was the current job Jacek had him lined up for and the push from the now regular 45% cut to a 48% cut. Jacek knew that the higher end contacts were not turning up what they needed. Vala had been taken by slavers. And that was not a high end market job. No, Jacek was now sending Hans on a supply run to one of the biggest slave centers in this quarter of the galaxy: Serak. It was also eerily close to the Lucian Alliance center, but to his surprise was also near the single planet of Bastet. Maybe if he found the time, he would land on her planet and get a look around. He had found that most goa'uld were willing to leave traders and smugglers alone purely for economical and supply reasons.

Daniel had also been keeping semi-regular contact with Earth through Jacek who spoke with the occasional Tok'ra spy lurking about. SG-1 had continued its regular mission with a stand in archeologist, though from what words he got, Cam hated the woman. She apparently kept trying to sneak into his tent at night, which did not please him at all.

Sighing, Daniel read over his manifest instructions one more time from Jacek. He was to pick up a shipment of new goa'uld healing devices from a nearby planet then deliver them to the slaver outpost. Once there, he was to wait for a contact who would provide him with a new job and the possibility to scout for word of Vala in a slave trade post. Talking to active slavers would be his best bet. Then to the auctioneers would be his second best bet.

A find like Vala, who was now considered a Tau'ri female, would no doubt fetch a high price and a lot of attention from an auctioneer. Not to mention that the slaver who caught her would brag about his catch and the credits he received.

He had finished a shower when he had received his new manifest from Jacek, and was again wearing nothing but the loose buckskin pants, a towel tossed over his shoulder. He had taken up a workout routine while on his ship, as he no longer had a team to practice and work out with. He had managed to keep up his usual muscular form, which made him happy. He had been afraid that he would lose it, but he found the best way to pass time in space was to work out heavily or study whatever artifact was waiting to be delivered.

He padded over the bridge and input the coordinates for the pick-up into his navigation computer, then padded back to his room where he grabbed a loose long sleeved white shirt and pulled it over his head. He had also added and subtracted to his wardrobe, along with some of the décor in his ship. While doing jobs he had managed to afford a few pieces that he wanted to keep for himself. Which he was pleased of. He almost considered, after having retrieved Vala from whatever diabolical clutches she had fallen into, that he would continue this nice little job he had going. Except he'd find a way to either get Jacek to drop his cut down a little more, or cut him out completely if he didn't drop. Daniel was developing his own set of contacts, and felt that he may not need Jacek if not for needing to find Vala.

Yawning, he placed the goa'uld tablet on the low table next to his bed. He had done a rather rigorous work out before his shower and he wouldn't be hitting his pick up planet for another six hours. Perfect time to nap then get up to read up on his contact.

* * *

Vala was beside herself with anger. If she had been a viper, she'd be spitting right now. Charon hadn't laid a finger on her in the months she had been here, but he had made damn sure that she was embarrassed in every way humanly possible. Forced to parade around in the nude like some sort of sick show pony in front of his whole guard. Granted she had no major issues with how her body looked and usually wasn't afraid to show off what she had, but this man had given explicit instructions to have his guards toss rotten fruits at her whenever they happened to be in her vicinity.

All because she had pretty much kicked his ugly ass the one time he tried to lay hands on her. She had almost escaped too. Multiple times in fact. And once she had evaded capture for about 3 days before withdrawal symptoms had rendered her incapable of going any further. For now she understood why Charon had his entire harem addicted to kasa. It was so, if they tried to escape, they wouldn't make it very far. Oh and she had done her best to stop ingesting the stuff. She'd drunk soapy bath water for the longest time before one of the other women in harem had tattled on her to one of the more ugly guards. This had earned her a private room with her own two guards and no baths for over two weeks. In this time, they only allowed kasa laced drink into her room with a single square meal every day. They had forced her addiction.

She couldn't very well let herself die of dehydration now could she? And Charon and his goons had made it very clear they didn't care if she did. It was up to her to decide if life addicted to kasa was better than being dead or not. And Vala knew her Daniel was out looking for her, so the option was very clear to her. No, she didn't like it. The stuff did provide a kind of high, but she was not one to enjoy being out of her faculties in an environment she wasn't comfortable in.

After her multiple escape attempts, Vala was now allowed only dirty rags to wear and was chained down while in her solitary cell. However, she was allowed books. But that was it. Anything that she might be capable of disassembling and turning into a potential weapon was not allowed anywhere near her.

Charon, unlike most other goa'ulds, did not always let his pride blind him. This was why his territory was always so much smaller than other more power hungry system lords, and also why he sat back and let his brethren squabble amongst themselves. He was biding his time until they had wiped one another out. As long as he presented no threat to any of them, they left him alone. And that was how he liked it.

However, Charon's new punishment had her seething. At minimum, once a day she was chained out front of the guard's barrack's (her own guard in tow to make sure nothing happened to her and that she didn't escape) with no clothes and no food, though she could have all the kasa drink she wanted. But during these times, buckets of rotten fruits and vegetables from the kitchens were sat out of her reach but within throwing distance of her. She had been pelted by so many tomato-like fruits in the past months, she hoped to never see a tomato again. And she wasn't always allowed to bathe afterwards. And when she was allowed a bath, it was a sponge bath provided by one of the harem girls and Vala was always chained tightly to the wall so she wouldn't try anything.

She wanted so badly to get out of here. If she ever saw Daniel again, she'd apologize profusely for ever running off and would promise to never do so again. Instead, if her Daniel pissed her off, she'd hit him instead. Maybe not the best of things, but then again, he tended to get interesting when you got his anger funneled into physical activity…

Oh and there goes her mind again, wandering down her increasingly more perverted thought processes. She didn't always have a lot to do nowadays what with solitary confinement that she had taken to inventing fantasies to keep herself busy. Some were pretty outrageous even for her…

There was one thing she had been noticing though…there was a guard, a single guard, who never threw fruit at her, never handled her roughly when it was his turn to guard her. She sensed something a little friendlier about his persona than with his peers. Maybe, with a little luck and time, she could get to know him, and maybe enlist in his help. He usually looked disgusted at the way she treated, though it was very well hidden.

The door rattled signifying that it was that time of day again, and her kind guard wasn't present today. No…today was Ugly and Uglier. They walked in to untie her and she made sure to spit in Uglier's face. Fat bastard…

* * *

His pick-up had gone without a hitch and he was now almost to his destination of Serak. Recently his pick-ups had been going smoother mainly because he had started recognizing how trouble started. Those annoying little blips on radar that one would think was space trash, often ended up not being just space trash…no, they normally ended up being a ship with a greedy and angry member of the competition. It was getting old to be perfectly honest.

He sighed as he felt the transition from hyperspace to normal speed. He knew he was on the outskirt of the solar system, Serak being the 3rd out from the yellow star at its center. It was an uncomfortably warm planet, all desert minus a few handfuls of oasis. At sub-light speed he'd be at the planet in about 3 hours.

He wanted to be sitting at the nearest window at about 2 hours though, because he'd pass right by Bastet's planet, which was lush and green and teeming with life. And boy, he was unusually excited at the idea of getting a glimpse of her world.

Now it would be fair to mention that he had encountered a goa'uld system lord named Bastet before, when he pretended to be Lord Yu's slave. But he knew that Bastet was not the one that lived on the planet he was going to pass by. Because the old Bastet had taken to seclusion, a newer system lord had deemed it appropriate to take the mantle of the name under a more war-like role and connotation. But the Tok'ra knew of an older, to their knowledge, more powerful Bastet. This goa'uld was one of the oldest…thousands and thousands of years old. Meaning she was most likely the most bad tempered of the bunch due to sarcophagus regeneration and its mind warping.

Oh he wanted so badly to study the history that must be on her planet.

* * *

Daniel was squirming in his seat. He felt like a little kid, what with getting to glimpse this planet as he passed by. It was just drawing into view now, with its three vast oceans and four continents. All of the land was forest, without a single desert, though one of the continents lurked near the northern pole and was tundra with steep mountain ranges.

He was so excited, that it took him a couple seconds to realize that his ship was shaking from being fired upon. Warning klaxons immediately struck up their annoying screaming, letting Daniel know what he figured out from the flashes flying by his windshield.

"Really? Already? I'm not even near Serak yet! Goddamned slavers and pirates! To hell with the lot of you!" He shook a middle finger angrily at the rear of his ship even though he knew his aggressors wouldn't see it or even understand what it meant if they could. "When I can have Asgard tech again I'm coming after you all with a vengeance!"

He couldn't pop into hyperdrive due to the presence of all the gravity wells and larger debris that littered the solar system, and from what he was reading, he couldn't really turn and fight his attackers either. There were four ships firing on him that had been cloaked. He looked out on the planet that was near him and knew he was going to have to bank on Bastet's fearsome reputation if he was going to live. New klaxons kept coming on as his shields began to wilt under the onslaught of incoming fire. It was land and hope he could repair his ship in time before Bastet got to him or get blown to smithereens by cowardly pirates.

The choice was simple really. He angled his ship down towards the planet going full speed into the atmosphere, even with his shields failing. The faster he got out of range and ditched the pirates, the more shields he'd still have anyways.

The effect was immediate when he nosed towards the planet. The ships firing upon him pulled away and halted fire. Daniel sighed in relief before immediately scanning the terrain of the nearest continent for a good place to touch down and begin repairs.

Scans were revealing plenty of life on the planet, with very small spots of technology. Nothing pervasive, but small pockets did exist. He found a relatively isolated area on the west end of the continent that had a few fields that were cleared of trees. As he drew closer, he could see that there was agriculture aplenty, giant squares of land that had neat rows of crops. And he also saw where they were rotating the plots of land between growing and recuperating. A sign of a civilization, along with the lines of what he assumed were roads. Dirt or cobblestone or any other manner of pavement, he couldn't tell.

His cloak was on the fritz, so he knew that whoever was outside was going to see him landing. He just had to hope that Bastet herself was nowhere near him on this planet. The last thing he wanted was to get caught trespassing on her planet. He gave a last sweep as he landed in the clearing he had picked out and picked up no life signs bigger than a housecat. Sighing in relief he shut down as much of his ship as he could afford to, and immediately ran into engine room where all the essential, running the ship gadgets were located.

He pulled out multiple panels to find many crystals fried from the effort of keeping the shields up. He had done some cross rigging that even the Tok'ra hadn't that would allow crystals from non-flight essential systems to burn out before essential ones did. So interior lighting would often short out first before the engines or shields. Even life support would go down before the other two. It was a personal risk, but keeping the two up would mean he could often touch down for repairs before he had to worry about the lack of life support.

Noting what new crystals he was going to have to pull out of his storage room, he wanted to go check the exterior hull for any potential breeches. He trusted his shields, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

He stopped in the cockpit and scanned his surroundings for life forms one last time before stepping out of the exit hatch nearby. Immediately he was bombarded with the smell of healthy vegetation and cool clean air. He closed his eyes and took a deep appreciative breath before opening his eyes.

"Oh hell…this just really isn't my day is it?" he muttered out loud. Arrayed in a semi-circle around him were humans in matching simple, clean cotton robes. All of them had staff weapons pointed at his head.

A woman with long red hair stepped out from the semi-circle toward him, keeping her weapon directed at him. "You land in a goa'uld ship without sending greetings. Are you goa'uld? If you lie, we will know. She does not approve of goa'uld presences on our planet."

Daniel looked on at the woman in interest. "I am not goa'uld. I have naqueda in my veins though due to needing to use their technology."

He watched as the woman stared sternly at him for a moment, then closed her eyes and appeared to be listening intently. They opened and glared back at Daniel.

"The man from Earth does not lie. Weapons down." The group around the ship all lowered their weapons. Daniel was surprised when none of them looked suspicious anymore. He returned his attention to the red headed woman.

"''She' wouldn't happen to be Bastet? And what do you mean Earth?"

The anger that erupted on the woman's face at the mention of the old goa'uld's name scared Daniel into taking a step back. "She is no longer known by that name! She has moved on from her shameful past to lead us into a new life and path! Call her whatever you wish but never refer to her as Bastet! It is an insult of the gravest kind!"

Daniel held his hands up in surrender to the woman's angry onslaught of words. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I do now. So uh…am I in any sort of major trouble for landing here? Because all I needed was to repair my ship then I'll be on my way."

The red head took a second to calm herself down before responding. "No, you're not in trouble. But She is greatly curious about you and wishes to speak in person. Let me impress upon you that her desire to see any offworlder is rare indeed. Most she will allow sanctuary by proxy only, and even then it's only for how long it takes for their ship to be repaired so they may leave. Only a goa'uld who stupidly seeks shelter from her gets taken into custody immediately or any slavers."

Daniel sat silent for a few seconds, not wanting to say anything prematurely to piss the woman off more. "Is there anything else I should be aware of, so that I might not offend anyone else or whoever She is?"

The red head grimaced. "No. The only real sacrilege is calling her by her prior name. She doesn't care, but we do. She has done so much for us as a people that we respect her too much to refer to her by a goa'uld name."

Daniel nodded his understanding. "That is reasonable. How far away is She?"

At this to woman gave a wry smile. "She's on the other side of the planet currently. But I suppose you think that would be a very long walk without your ship operational." Walking up, the woman pulled what looked like a sticker out a pouch that was strapped to her side. She placed the sticker on his skin then stood back. "The first trip will severely disorient you, but you get used to it. I hope your meeting goes well Earthling."

Daniel was about to ask what she was talking about when suddenly the world seemed to whirl in around him, everything going black and cold, with total sensory deprivation. It lasted about 3 seconds before the world spun back out around him, where he collapsed onto his knees gasping for air. It felt like someone had used him like a wash cloth and wrung him out. Everything seemed unusually loud and bright, and even smells were amplified.

He was staring at a beautiful black marble floor that had veins of gold and some sort of red stone twisting through it. Distantly he registered that a voice was speaking very softly to him.

"We're so sorry about that Daniel. Amala doesn't always take too kindly to off-worlders who are actually harmless. But sometimes her judge of character is a little better than ours." He could immediately register why the voice was speaking in the plural. It was laced with the metallic tones of a goa'uld. And yet the voice also lacked it at the same time. It was as if two voices were speaking in perfect tone, pitch, and rhythm from the same voice box.

The voices chuckled a bit. "For those used to the goa'uld having full control over a body or the body only being able to display one personality at a time, it does come off as a bit odd. Just wait until you see what we look like." A shadow appeared off to his side and he felt a hand grasp his shoulder gently in order to help him stand up. It was a rather large hand too. He turned to look at it as he went to stand up and immediately gasped. It was covered in fur! His head immediately snapped up and looked up into what was a very feline face.

The being was tall, almost seven feet tall, covered in a light down of grey fur. White hair almost like human hair except with more fullness and texture was pulled up into a ponytail. The ears were even like a cats, swiveling to catch sounds. The eyes that looked at him in amusement were violet however.

"Congratulations Doctor Daniel Jackson of Earth. You are the first from your planet to meet a Furling."

Daniel couldn't find anything really appropriate to say at the moment, so he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "You're so not like an Ewok…"

The being's face gave a look of what seemed like confusion to Daniel. He felt a light pressure in his head like he was about to have a headache before the being sudden smiled amicably. The pressure abruptly disappeared.

"No. We are nothing like Ewoks. We are Furling and goa'uld. You may refer to us as Buer.

Daniel grasped onto that name in the midst of his confusion. "Buer. A fallen angel. Teacher of philosophy, logic, and ethics. Banned from Heaven for loving mankind."

Buer smiled at Daniel. "We are fallen from both races. Goa'uld shun Bastet for not following their bloody ethics. Pinam'e is the last of her race. There are no more Furlings except her."

Daniel was finally starting to take in a bit more information about his situation, now that the shock of seeing a veritable cat person was wearing off. "The Furlings were one of the four races. We know that the Asgard suffered from their inability to master cloning genetics, that the Nox are secluded by choice, and that all Alterans either evolved into current humans or Ascended. We never found out what happened to you though."

Buer continued to smile patiently. "The Furlings indeed did suffer such as the Asgard. As far as races go, the only one that will continue in proper fashion is the Nox. The Asgard gave up the ability to ascend in exchange for their own version of immortal life through cloned bodies. They learned much, but gave up too much in their desire to learn fast and quickly. Their damage was irreversible. Alteraan non-intervention doomed almost half of their race. Their continued non-intervention caused some trouble from what we can tell also. You Earthlings are to thank for saving us all from certain destruction. As for the Furlings…our own way of evolving over time is what doomed us."

Daniel watched as Buer gave a long sigh at this. She swept a couple of bangs out of her face and gestured for him to follow her across the room where large pillows were scattered around a low table. He could see a pot and a couple of cups sitting on it.

"We would have seen what was headed our way if we had allowed the Asgard or the Alteraans to look into our genetic structure. But we Furlings protected our greatest asset and our greatest curse from falling into overeager hands. The Nox would have been the only ones we could have trusted with our secret but they had no desire to help or find out."

Buer seated herself down on a large purple pillow and poured fragrant smelling tea into both cups. She placed one in Daniel's hands, then took a long draught from her own.

"What do you mean greatest asset and greatest curse?"

Buer gave a bitter smile at Daniel. "The Asgard had their version of everlasting life yes? Move their consciousness into a new cloned body. The Furlings possessed true everlasting life. We could still be killed, get sick and die, but never from old age."

Daniel's jaw actually dropped. True everlasting life. It wasn't immortality, but hell…knowing you could live forever if you took good care of yourself… The question left his mouth before he even really questioned its appropriateness. "How old are you?"

"Pinam'e is well over three million years old in your Earth time standards. Bastet is a mere fifteen thousand."

"So…how was it your race's greatest curse? How did you all die out and how did you survive?" Daniel sipped his tea that Buer had poured and marveled at its sweet, mild flavor.

Buer chuckled at his eagerness, but a sad look crossed her face at the same time. "As a type of 'side-effect' of our very, very long lives, we do not bear children often. This is our way of regulating our population. Children were precious in our race. Only a handful were born each century. This low birth rate was our curse. Maybe if more younglings had been alive, maybe more than just I would have survived. Sometime about 2000 years after Bastet was born, my race seemed to hit a genetic self-destruct button. Something hidden deep in our genetic code seemed to come loose and release a virus of some sort that almost instantaneously killed every member of our race."

Pausing to take a calming breath, Buer wiped a couple tears from her violet eyes. "We must apologize Daniel. Furlings were like your ants or bees. We were a hive mind. We have been terribly lonely for many years. There is an emptiness and a pervasive quiet that is most unnatural. If not for Bastet, Pinam'e would have been long gone due to loneliness." Buer bowed her head, and when it came back up the familiar and eerie glow of goa'uld eyes met Daniel's. When she spoke, it was pure goa'uld voice, with no trace of the Furling's.

"I had to spend many years in control of Pinam'e while she grieved. I was very weak the whole time, having to take total control of all her bodily functions. It was fortunate that we had already had many years together without the need for a sarcophagus. Otherwise I might have never allowed her control of her body back. But Pinam'e taught me much about the vices of my race. It took much to build up the trust. Our first years together were spent vying for control. As a goa'uld, getting a Furling body was considered the pinnacle of existence. A body that would live forever without dependence on a sarcophagus.

"Her pain is great even now. Spending almost 3 million years with over ten thousand minds sharing your own only to end up with a single voice is jarring. It was overwhelming when I first attempted to control Pinam'e. Controlling a Furling mind is impossible. I was the first and only of my kind to find that out. They are telepathic and possess a hive mind. Such things prove too powerful and strong in a host for a goa'uld to take over. However, beyond being Pinam'e's only light in the darkness, I saved her life. The virus her genetic code is continually producing can only be filtered out by me. This is a constant job for me and causes me severe weakness. Her withdrawal into her mind was a very difficult time for me. I am surprised we managed to live."

Daniel was absolutely enthralled with the being in front of him. To finally see a Furling…to meet the true Bastet… "How did you all manage to avoid the hostile Goa'uld for so long? Even now many give wide berth to your green and bountiful planet…"

Bastet blinked at Daniel, thinking over her answer. "As I sense you know, the Furlings were one of the Four Races that met for conferences. These were technologically advanced races though two unfortunately hadn't matured enough as a society to understand the implications that technology would have upon them. The Ancients, as you call them in your mind, and the Asgard. The Asgard squandered their technology on prolonging their own lives in order to artificially push their knowledge. As you know, this ended in disaster. The Alterans however, let their own rules destroy them. They had found the secret to ascending to a higher plane of existence, but their rules had little give to even allow for saving their own souls. Pacifism is self-enforced genocide. Even the Nox were known to run interference from time to time when things got out of control.

"But I'm wandering off topic here. The Furlings had plenty of advanced technology. You got to experience their own version of teleportation technology. No bulky machines necessary, just that small patch that identifies your molecular structure and has a set of coordinates programmed in. A small scan and the patch memorizes your entire body, breaks it down into energy, transports it, reassembles it, and for lack of a better term, restarts your body. As eerie as it sounds, you technically die every time you are disassembled. Although this same transportation tech can be modified for genetic altering and also cleansing any bacteria and viruses that are attacking your system. I believe you may find Pinam'e did a small tweak to yours."

Daniel gave a start and started running his hands frantically over his body, wondering what on earth the Furling might have done to his body. He hope it wasn't like a third eye or something…or tentacles…he hated tentacles…

'_Silly Daniel…I just altered your brain chemistry a bit to allow a hive mindset…you have no idea how much I have longed for another voice in the darkness…no offense meant to Bastet of course…"_

Daniel glanced back up to Buer to find that her violet eyes were in control again, only this time swimming with tears of both sadness and joy.

* * *

A/N: End of Chapter. I offer no excuses for my tardiness. I just write this at my own leisure. Until next chapter!


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